Kings Article: Two LA Kings Draft Mistakes Illustrate Why Drafting For Need Is Generally A Bad Thing

[Ziggy Stardust]

The only real shame in the Hickey pick is that they had an offer to trade him for a first round pick the season before he was claimed off waivers and they didn't do it.

That's it. That's the tragedy.

It's alright, they acquired Keaton Ellerby for a 5th.

I guess they favored the defenseman with size who just happened to be selected at 10th overall the same draft as Hickey, and had a far less successful career.

The Kings also opted to keep Davis Drewiske over Thomas Hickey.

 

[bland]

Its almost as if not everyone makes it.

Must be because you drafted for need. Even though that works just as much as any other philosophy.

 

[Brodeur]

The rumor was that Lombardi had a deal in place for the Kings to drop down into the teens and take Hickey there closer to where he was ranked. But then he caught wind of someone (Colorado I think, might have been Montreal) in the teens wanting Hickey and Lombardi didn't want to potentially lose the guy he wanted. So he took him at 4 instead.

The rumor was Boston as I understand it, they'd end up taking a different WHL prospect who didn't pan out at #8. I know for sure that St. Louis was trying desperately to trade up from #9 in order to land Jakub Voracek. I remember seeing draft day video of them offering #9 and #24 to Edmonton for #6, so I'd imagine they made a similar offer to LA for #4.

Interesting chain reaction if LA had traded down: Florida was going to take Logan Couture at #10. San Jose acquired #13 the morning of the draft and knew they had to leapfrog Florida to get Couture. After missing out on Voracek, St. Louis' next target was a little off the board in Lars Eller. So St. Louis was willing to trade down.

 

[eleventy]

The timing for the release of this article couldn't have come at a better time.

God I remember being at the draft party for this, and the entire venue collectively exclaimed "WHO?!?". Those were some good times...

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

God I remember being at the draft party for this, and the entire venue collectively exclaimed "WHO?!?". Those were some good times...

I was also at that draft party, and made an immediate beeline for the open bar.

 

[Herby]

Now they are blaming these picks on “reaching for needs” and completely ignoring that the evaluations were garbage to begin with.

 

[apadilla]

In 2018 the Kings had a need for a big LD prospect with sandpaper. K'Andre Miller was available and on my draft play radar at pick 18 OA. But he was skipped over for center speed and skill (Kupari). That didn't work out either. In my view Miller is just what the Kings needed and still need, even taking his spitting skills into account. Since Deano left, i've thought the prospect rating system the Kings have used has been "underwhelming", and doesn't take enough into account whether a prospect is inclined to stand up for his teammates.

 

[Soapdodger]

Yes, the 2007 draft is long long but it still is to this day a bean of what not to do at the draft.
Drafting for need is never a good idea but if you want to go way off board and draft a guy that is ranked so much lower (26th by Central Scouting) and please trade down and get something for the risk you take.
Taking your time with development is fine and in most cases good, but to give Hickey not a single NHL game to show what he is capable of is not just unfair but cruel.

If you realize that he is not developing like you would have liked and others have passed him - it's time to cut your losses and trade him. The offer was there and could have salvaged at least a bit of the wasted draft capital.
Keeping Davis Drewiske over Hickey was a fitting end to his time as a King

 

[kingsfan28]

The rumor was Boston as I understand it, they'd end up taking a different WHL prospect who didn't pan out at #8. I know for sure that St. Louis was trying desperately to trade up from #9 in order to land Jakub Voracek. I remember seeing draft day video of them offering #9 and #24 to Edmonton for #6, so I'd imagine they made a similar offer to LA for #4.

Interesting chain reaction if LA had traded down: Florida was going to take Logan Couture at #10. San Jose acquired #13 the morning of the draft and knew they had to leapfrog Florida to get Couture. After missing out on Voracek, St. Louis' next target was a little off the board in Lars Eller. So St. Louis was willing to trade down.

Alzner, a lefty, would've been the better pick and ended up playing almost 700 games and was a just what you expected. A solid stay at home dman with size.

 

[kingsholygrail]

Hard to think of one that was worse as far as trading up to get him. I think the next two guys after him got ROTY and a few Norris Trophy's.

We traded Bourque for a goalie.

But seriously, half of the league passed on Karlsson before he got picked. Not sure why anyone is stressing out over it.

 

[Sol]

I thought this was going to be a current day topic so I was expecting Byfield and Turcotte

 

[Herby]

I thought this was going to be a current day topic so I was expecting Byfield and Turcotte

If it doesn't work out with these picks they will have all the excuses ready. It's never poor evaluation or development choices.

 

[BigKing]

I love a tough, punishing defenseman but I was shocked they traded up to take Teubert over Myers.

Got Voynov in the 2nd round though so Doughty and Voynov in two of his first three picks. Not too shabby. Bjornfot might become the Teubert to Kaliyev's Voynov. If Turcotte and Bjornfot are indeed misses but Kaliyev and Spence are hits, that draft could still be a success. Brandt Clarke being a complete stud will help erase some of the sting of those misses.

For example, the Hickey pick sucked but he pulled Simmonds, Martinez and King out of that draft.

This is what I've been saying about Blake's prospect pool: all of the top rated guys aren't going to pan out but it will still be a win if one of these Top 10 picks reaches star status and then later round guys pop.

He's got Anderson as probably his best draft pick so far when you take into account impact and draft position. Need some more of that. Spence, Pinnelli etc. Dean was getting Top 5 prospect status with Hickey/Bernier/Teubert/Purcell etc...leading the way. It's all kind of bullshit: your prospect pool ranking is going to be high if all you did was have a bunch of high draft picks and follow BPA/CSB when it is your turn.

These guys at the Athletic will toss Fagemo in as like the Kings #3 overall prospect because of an awesome WJC. I know most of the posters on here have been around for awhile so it's still so funny to me when I see these future lineups made up almost completely of prospects when we should all know by now that most of these dudes don't meet expectations and then there will be guys you didn't really think about that wind up making an impact.